What happened in 2017(avc.com)
avc.com
What happened in 2017
http://avc.com/2017/12/what-happened-in-2017/
42 comments
> Soon we might need adblock like plugins to stop companies from trying to gain data on us.
The popular adblockers I'm aware of also block analytics calls made thru external JS (ga.js, segment.js come to mind)
The popular adblockers I'm aware of also block analytics calls made thru external JS (ga.js, segment.js come to mind)
>> How does someone predict a particular narrative for next 30 years?
You won't anymore. Predicting a particular narritive is akin to decide what will happen. The more you force the future, the more the future tries to become the past. If the future is the past, then there is no progress made. No progress made, and you have a loop.
You won't anymore. Predicting a particular narritive is akin to decide what will happen. The more you force the future, the more the future tries to become the past. If the future is the past, then there is no progress made. No progress made, and you have a loop.
"The big story of 2017 in the US was the beginning of the end of white male dominance."
"[Trump] is the epitome of white male dominance. An unapologetic (actually braggart) groper in chief. I think it took something as horrible as the election of such an awful human being to shock the US into deciding that we could not allow this behavior any more. Courageous women such as Susan Fowler, Ellen Pao, and many others came forward and talked publicly about their struggles with behavior that we now deem unacceptable."
I thought it was Harvey Weinstein revelations that was the turning point.
"[Trump] is the epitome of white male dominance. An unapologetic (actually braggart) groper in chief. I think it took something as horrible as the election of such an awful human being to shock the US into deciding that we could not allow this behavior any more. Courageous women such as Susan Fowler, Ellen Pao, and many others came forward and talked publicly about their struggles with behavior that we now deem unacceptable."
I thought it was Harvey Weinstein revelations that was the turning point.
Susan Fowler has gone on the record as saying Trump's election played a major role in coming forward, and all of that happened 7 months before Weinstein.
Yes. Not sure it’s a tech bias, but I think she deserves credit for starting the movement.
> Computer literacy for everyone. That means making sure that everyone is able to go into GitHub and read the code that increasingly controls our lives and understand what it does and how it works.
The last stat I can find on US literacy is 86% (1985). Based on anecdotal evidence I suspect "math literacy" is much lower than that (couldn't find statistics). I had other _really smart_ engineer/science friends in undergrad who struggled writing and reading code. I'm not sure how realistic this is.
The last stat I can find on US literacy is 86% (1985). Based on anecdotal evidence I suspect "math literacy" is much lower than that (couldn't find statistics). I had other _really smart_ engineer/science friends in undergrad who struggled writing and reading code. I'm not sure how realistic this is.
I don't think it's realistic at all. Most people get bored when they look at code. It's a 'living in the bubble' sort of thing to think this will happen, imho.
I thought the same. Give everyone access to APIs with their private info?
Then again, there was a time when driving must have seemed too complex for the masses.
Then again, there was a time when driving must have seemed too complex for the masses.
Which highlights how important it is to invest in making computing more approachable for the masses. It's how we democratize tech today.
Maybe it's not a realistic goal today, but computer literacy needs to be in everyone's mind today.
The how do we cope with it list is wishful at best with the "understanding code," "Github" and "open source." I am all for computer education and open source (more like /g/ Stallmanism FOSS, but that's not relevant), but I can't imagine any year being the year of Linux on the Desktop. It has been that way for 30 years now.
The thing I think will be a big deal in the next couple of years to come will be about trust, or more precisely trustless. It has been shown that you can trust a protocol/scheme without trusting anyone in the system. The rise of Bitcoin is the prime example of that. Or look at how Contactless discovery happens in Signal. Now imagine that happening in your spam abuse (imagine spammers can't spam due to effective rate limiting), email service (you store encrypted emails on the server you don't trust, and know when someone decrypts your mail), social networks (you can safely store your information on a social network without trusting it), responsible decryption (you can store top-secret data in your phone and not having to trust the software provider - i.e. FBI Apple iPhone case), reproducible software builds. Technologies are slowly enabling those dreams to come true. I think that trust in trustless systems is extremely important, because it enables the mass to have privacy and protection without having to resort on everyone understanding the code and more importantly, trusting the integrity (whatever that might require) of the cloud operator or of your peers. Several important papers have been published in this area. To get a grasp of what's possible, you could read "Making Decryption Accountable" by Ryan, "Private contact discovery for Signal" by moxie0.
I'm planning to do something practical with those ideas in 2018 :). Wish me luck guys.
The thing I think will be a big deal in the next couple of years to come will be about trust, or more precisely trustless. It has been shown that you can trust a protocol/scheme without trusting anyone in the system. The rise of Bitcoin is the prime example of that. Or look at how Contactless discovery happens in Signal. Now imagine that happening in your spam abuse (imagine spammers can't spam due to effective rate limiting), email service (you store encrypted emails on the server you don't trust, and know when someone decrypts your mail), social networks (you can safely store your information on a social network without trusting it), responsible decryption (you can store top-secret data in your phone and not having to trust the software provider - i.e. FBI Apple iPhone case), reproducible software builds. Technologies are slowly enabling those dreams to come true. I think that trust in trustless systems is extremely important, because it enables the mass to have privacy and protection without having to resort on everyone understanding the code and more importantly, trusting the integrity (whatever that might require) of the cloud operator or of your peers. Several important papers have been published in this area. To get a grasp of what's possible, you could read "Making Decryption Accountable" by Ryan, "Private contact discovery for Signal" by moxie0.
I'm planning to do something practical with those ideas in 2018 :). Wish me luck guys.
Do you have predictions for 2018? It was funny reading how you got so many things wrong in your 2017 predictions!
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It’s always interesting to read these and how different technologies go through a chain of events to rapidly gain mass adoption. Looking forward seeing what the next 12 months will bring us. Space? Breakthrough in AI?
> The Tech Backlash
If there is a tech backlash, I don't see how more tech is the solution.
I downloaded WeCroak, after reading an Atlantic article about it being an anti-app to remind you about your impending death, and it works as advertised. By which I mean, after reading a quote about death, I feel less inclined to pick up my phone for a couple hours!
If there is a tech backlash, I don't see how more tech is the solution.
I downloaded WeCroak, after reading an Atlantic article about it being an anti-app to remind you about your impending death, and it works as advertised. By which I mean, after reading a quote about death, I feel less inclined to pick up my phone for a couple hours!
Stopped reading at "beginning of the end of white male dominance". Identity politics does not belong on HN.
I think it does.
> The big story of 2017 in the US was the beginning of the end of white male dominance. This is not a tech story, per se, but the tech sector was impacted by it. We saw numerous top VCs and tech CEOs leave their firms and companies over behavior that was finally outed and deemed unacceptable.
I don't care about the writer's credentials. This article being on the front page is an embarrassment to Hacker News. Whiteness is associated with being a predator, that is, an enemy of women. Divide and conquer.
I don't care about the writer's credentials. This article being on the front page is an embarrassment to Hacker News. Whiteness is associated with being a predator, that is, an enemy of women. Divide and conquer.
You're aware that the writer is a white dude right? That's not a credential, that's a fact.
I'm sick of hearing about white males. Just because they dominate leadership roles doesn't mean that all, or even most white males have power. It's gotta be less than 1% of white males who have a position of influence. It's not a collective group.
You're fed up after one year... Imagine what it's like for those of us who are judged in worse ways than being accused of having power. Literally hundreds of years of being called thieves, hoodlums, idiots and worse, being harassed and assaulted by authority, because of race/gender. I agree with you -- the generalizations suck and I'm tired of it too.
Yes but as a percentage of population, those while males have a disproportionate amount of power compared to any other group, all things equal.
The fact that white men hold power shouldn't be worrying. Power is often inherited, and America was historically a predominantly white male-dominated nation in the near past.
What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening. People are acting like all white males are the issue when they're not. They're applauding affirmative action while ignoring the fact that white men are now a minority in universities nowadays. They sneer at men embracing their masculinity while applauding women embracing their femininity. They push for equality in high paying fields while ignoring these inequalities in lower-paying ones.
We really should reconsider our methods of facilitating change. It's a double standard, and will be met with cultural and political backlash.
What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening. People are acting like all white males are the issue when they're not. They're applauding affirmative action while ignoring the fact that white men are now a minority in universities nowadays. They sneer at men embracing their masculinity while applauding women embracing their femininity. They push for equality in high paying fields while ignoring these inequalities in lower-paying ones.
We really should reconsider our methods of facilitating change. It's a double standard, and will be met with cultural and political backlash.
Why on Earth should people of conscience not be concerned with a self-perpetuating inheritance of power? That seems to be exactly what affirmative action programs are designed to counter-balance, so not understanding your criticism of them here.
> The fact that white men hold power shouldn't be worrying.
We've got a few thousand years of racist history that shows us just how worried we should be about mostly white men holding power vs representative populations of those leadership groups.
> What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening.
This is where you lost me. Do you have any proof that this is taking place and at which rate? At which point is the discomfort of white males OK for society given the vast injustices and imbalances created to make white males more comfortable at everyone else's expense?
We've got a few thousand years of racist history that shows us just how worried we should be about mostly white men holding power vs representative populations of those leadership groups.
> What we should worry about is this fact being used as an excuse for anti-white racism and anti-male sexism, which is exactly what is happening.
This is where you lost me. Do you have any proof that this is taking place and at which rate? At which point is the discomfort of white males OK for society given the vast injustices and imbalances created to make white males more comfortable at everyone else's expense?
> At which point is the discomfort of white males OK for society given the vast injustices and imbalances created to make white males more comfortable at everyone else's expense?
Fighting racism with racism will earn you no friends. There is nothing that makes whites better than nonwhites, and there is nothing that makes nonwhites better than whites. Utilizing this us-vs-them mentality to suppress a group of people you don't like is exactly the kind of mentality that led to racism in the first place.
Fighting racism with racism will earn you no friends. There is nothing that makes whites better than nonwhites, and there is nothing that makes nonwhites better than whites. Utilizing this us-vs-them mentality to suppress a group of people you don't like is exactly the kind of mentality that led to racism in the first place.
Having representative populations of leaders that understand and properly advocate for the interests of their communities is not fighting racism with racism.
No, but saying that making white people "uncomfortable" is okay _is_ fighting racism with racism, and should not be tolerated.
I understand your frustration, but I have little sympathy. Most of us who aren't white males have never had the luxury of not having to think about white males. Our success is largely contingent on understanding the dominant culture of the circles of power. It is, indeed, tiresome to have to do so.
Now I'm not saying life is easy for the white male. I know it's not. We all know the vast majority of white males aren't basking in wealth and power. I'm simply saying, look how exclusive the top is to those who aren't white and male, and for all the challenges the composite white male faces in navigating the world, the composite person who is not white male that has those, plus the mechanisms that filter us out the higher we rise.
I'm not asking you to cry for me. I don't need it. I wrote the above in full recognition that if you remove the white part, as a male, I'm in the in group. I try to understand the advantages I have as a guy, a heterosexual, an American, and a person who was born well off, and I try to advocate for those that don't have those advantages.
Now I'm not saying life is easy for the white male. I know it's not. We all know the vast majority of white males aren't basking in wealth and power. I'm simply saying, look how exclusive the top is to those who aren't white and male, and for all the challenges the composite white male faces in navigating the world, the composite person who is not white male that has those, plus the mechanisms that filter us out the higher we rise.
I'm not asking you to cry for me. I don't need it. I wrote the above in full recognition that if you remove the white part, as a male, I'm in the in group. I try to understand the advantages I have as a guy, a heterosexual, an American, and a person who was born well off, and I try to advocate for those that don't have those advantages.
> Most of us who aren't white males have never had the luxury of not having to think about white males. Our success is largely contingent on understanding the dominant culture of the circles of power. It is, indeed, tiresome to have to do so.
Everyone who seeks and earns power does this, even white men. If we want to be powerful, we mimic powerful people. You're conflating race and culture, which are massively different. A white hillbilly from Tennessee will have just as much trouble becoming an executive as a black man from the projects.
Everyone who seeks and earns power does this, even white men. If we want to be powerful, we mimic powerful people. You're conflating race and culture, which are massively different. A white hillbilly from Tennessee will have just as much trouble becoming an executive as a black man from the projects.
The article seem to suggest that "white males dominating positions of power" and "males committing sex crimes and getting away with it" are the same issue.
Both of these things are problems. The former because it suggests that equal opportunity is a myth, and the latter because criminals are getting away with sexual harassment/assault and even rape. But I don't think they're the same issue.
In my opinion, if we solved the equal opportunity problem, we'd still have to face these three problems:
1. Sexual harassment and assault are considered acceptable behavior by many males.
2. Rich people face a different justice system than poor people.
3. Women face skepticism, hostility, and sometimes reprisals when they come forward with allegations of sexual harassment/assault or rape.
I do wish people would talk about 2 more. All in all, I think it's extremely good thing for our society that women are coming forward and males who have committed sex crimes are paying for it. I just wish they were being prosecuted and not "forced to step down."
Both of these things are problems. The former because it suggests that equal opportunity is a myth, and the latter because criminals are getting away with sexual harassment/assault and even rape. But I don't think they're the same issue.
In my opinion, if we solved the equal opportunity problem, we'd still have to face these three problems:
1. Sexual harassment and assault are considered acceptable behavior by many males.
2. Rich people face a different justice system than poor people.
3. Women face skepticism, hostility, and sometimes reprisals when they come forward with allegations of sexual harassment/assault or rape.
I do wish people would talk about 2 more. All in all, I think it's extremely good thing for our society that women are coming forward and males who have committed sex crimes are paying for it. I just wish they were being prosecuted and not "forced to step down."
> less than 1% who have a position of influence
A big part of “We are the 99%” is, surely, the realization that less than 1% of all people have those coveted positions of power. If they followed the same distribution as the population as a whole, which they don’t, something like 61.3% of that 1% would be white, 13% would be black etc.
The distribution is heavily skewed towards white because for historic and cultural reasons it’s much easier for white people to get into that group.
> it’s not a collective group
Welcome to *ism 101. That’s when the properties of a minority are expanded to the whole group based on a trait. All white men are terrible, all black people wear saggy sweatpants, all hispanics clean toilets, and all white women want to speak to the manager Etc
A big part of “We are the 99%” is, surely, the realization that less than 1% of all people have those coveted positions of power. If they followed the same distribution as the population as a whole, which they don’t, something like 61.3% of that 1% would be white, 13% would be black etc.
The distribution is heavily skewed towards white because for historic and cultural reasons it’s much easier for white people to get into that group.
> it’s not a collective group
Welcome to *ism 101. That’s when the properties of a minority are expanded to the whole group based on a trait. All white men are terrible, all black people wear saggy sweatpants, all hispanics clean toilets, and all white women want to speak to the manager Etc
> Just because they dominate leadership roles doesn't mean that all, or even most white males have power
Read that sentence to yourself again, slowly.
And ask yourself why, and how it affects groups who rarely have power.
Read that sentence to yourself again, slowly.
And ask yourself why, and how it affects groups who rarely have power.
Poor white men arguably have more in common with poor women of other races than they do with rich white CEOs or presidents, but, you know, divide and rule.
How does someone predict a particular narrative for next 30 years?
If anything I predict people will be disillusioned trying to pump AI/ML in everything imaginable. And data collection just for the sake of collection will be looked down upon as spam. Soon we might need adblock like plugins to stop companies from trying to gain data on us.